Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration Announced

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a call for applications for a new Affordable Care Act initiative designed to strengthen primary care in the United States.

Under the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration, CMS will provide hospitals working with nursing schools to train advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with payments of up to $50 million annually over four years to cover the costs of APRNs’ clinical training.

Growing the ranks of APRNs is an important way to increase the base of primary care providers in this country. In the past, the cost of clinical training has limited the ability of hospitals and other healthcare providers to accept more APRN students into their settings for clinical training.

Under the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration, CMS will provide reimbursement to up to five eligible hospitals for the reasonable cost of providing clinical training to APRN students added as a result of the demonstration. Hospitals participating in the demonstration must partner with accredited schools of nursing and non-hospital community-based care settings.

Payments to the participating hospitals will be linked directly to the number of additional APRNs that the hospitals and their partnering entities are able to train as a result of their participation in the demonstration. The payment will be calculated on a per-student basis, comparing previous enrollment levels in APRN training programs with enrollment under the demonstration.

For more information, or to view the solicitation, visit: innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/gne.

Source: CMS News Release